new website @ http://kokomo.fr

Haruko - The Bright Lights
Haruko - Goodbye My Love, Goodbye

Haruko (Susanne Stanglow) is a young lady of 20 years old, living in Bremem Germany. She released one of the most beautiful record of the year « Wild Geese » and kindly answers to our questions:

Haruko, if your music was a landscape ?
It would be a little house in the mountains maybe.

What is the meaning of the name « Haruko »
« Springchild ». It’s Japanese, I’m born in spring.

What’s your story with music ?
I started playing the guitar at the age of 14 because I wanted to play the songs I listened to. My father, who plays the guitar, showed me some chords and we played a lot of songs together, songs by Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix. I never liked learning new skills on the guitar and I never took a lesson. I always did it just for fun. When I was 17 I started to write songs and had my first concert by chance. After that, I thought « why not? » and kept on making music.

What kind of music did you listen at home when you were a child ?
I don’t remeber much. I think I liked music as a child but I didn’t really care what music I was listening to. But I remember that I’d always ask my father to play « As tears Go by ». I still like his version better than the original.

What are your projects for the up coming months ?
I would like to tour through Europe because I almost only toured in Germany, yet. And I want to record another album and/or Ep.

« I know, dreams often feel better than life, but you cannot hide » Could you explain us your connection with the reality, is your music and dreams a way to get away from our world ?
On some days it’s hard for me to cope with certain situations or problems and then it even is a challenge for me to talk to people or to do my work. So I often try to keep the real life out and image/dream my own world where everything is easier. Of course that doesn’t make anything easier. My music is maybe a way to understand myself and situations better.

Did you ever plan to sing a song with someone else, with who would you like or dream to sing as a duo ?
On stage I sing along with Hlynur Gudjonsson. He’s my boyfriend and also a musician. If I could choose without being realistic I would like to sing with Leonard Cohen.

When, how, did you know that a song is successfully completed ?
It just feels like it. Sometimes I start to write a song and I think it’s unfinished but I can’t find an « end ». And then I forget it and continue working at it a few weeks later and suddenly I don’t need to write anything anymore because I feel like it is completed. It also depends on the story of the song. Some lyrics are just thoughts that don’t need a fixed order and some songs are telling stories that need an ending.

Is there a song you wish you had written ?
There are dozens of songs I wish I had written. Like « Milk and Honey » by Jackson C. Frank. But in the end – if I had written the song I’d surely be sick of it by now and wouldn’t have the pleasure to hear it for the first time.

Most ever playing record at home ?
Hard to decide…I listened a lot to Mariee Sioux’s « Faces in the Rocks » and « Ys » by Joanna Newsom. But it’s difficult to tell. There are lots of records I love and that are played a lot.

What are you currently listening to, any recommended records ?
In the last weeks/months I listened to « Lost Wisdom » by Mount Eerie everytime I went for a walk. It is such a beautiful album and I even think one of the most beautiful records I’ve ever heard. Bowerbirds: « Hymns for a dark horse »…Laura Gibson: « Six white horses »

Is there a movie that get a strong influence on you ?
I love watching movies but I don’t know in how far (or if) they ever influenced me. But I think some stories or characters might be a motivation to put yourself in someone else’s position and write about his thoughts and his situation.

http://www.myspace.com/haruko.music

see also : an exclusive interview with Ed Laurie

http://www.myspace.com/edlaurie

http://www.wild-beasts.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/wildbeasts

http://www.greatlakeswimmers.com

http://www.myspace.com/theleisuresociety

http://theleisuresociety.co.uk

watch in high quality with Quicktime (via http://www.mikedaly.net)

http://www.myspace.com/hollythrosby

http://www.hollythrosby.com

http://monstersoffolk.com

http://www.myspace.com/dougmartschsolo

The new album of Thomas Dybdahl is a collation of his previous 4 albums and is a perfect introduction to discovered one of the KOKOMO’s favorite singers !

http://www.myspace.com/tdybdahl

http://thomasdybdahl.com

http://www.myspace.com/ollenyman

You can also listen and download the song 40 Day Dream @ Rough Trade Records

http://www.myspace.com/edwardsharpe

« La Route du Rock » is a french music festival. The 08/16/2009 at Saint-Malo, Bill Callahan performed an amazing show that you can watch on arte LIVE WEB or choose directly the songs in the list below:

photo by Leah Pritchard

http://www.myspace.com/thecurseofcompany

What’s your story with music ?
My dad worked in a record store when I was a kid, so there would always be records playing at home. All kinds of stuff really, but I remember Elvis being played a lot. I love Elvis. But I never had any big dreams of being a musician or songwriter or anything like that. I wanted to make movies, which I guess is kinda naive coming from a guy who’s very disorganized. Anyway, after throwing in the towel on the whole movie thing, to my fortune, my old friend Folke Olsen got me into songwriting and later on singing and performing. I stumble unto it you might say.

What are your projects for the up coming months ?
Well my current project is about 55cm and weighs 4,6 kilos. I’d like to watch him grow for a while before doing anything else.

Is there a new album to come ?
I’m planning to be back in the studio with my band by the end of the year or the beginning of 2010. Peter Von Poehl is gonna help me produce it which I’m very excited about. But I don’t have any release date yet or even a label. Maybe I’ll put it out myself. We’ll just have to wait and see I guess.

Do you have any plans to tour ?
It looks like I’ll be back in the UK in October or November. I would really like to come back to France too, but dont have a booking agent there at the moment.

What are you doing when you don’t play music ?
I try to make ends meet. Kinda like what Charles Bukowski did before he made it. Although I probably dont drink as much as he did.

What are you currently listening to, any recommended records ?
Some one gave me the Allison Krauss/Robert Plant album a while back. There’s some really good stuff on there. Fantastic players and a killer production. The latest Jolie Holland album is a good one too. And Neko Case of course.

Did you ever plan to sing a song with someone else ?
I actually did a duet with my good friend Jason Freeman at Electraphonic Studios in Memphis last year. The Cuckoo Bird it was. Jason is an amazing artist, out of this world really. You should check him out. I’m sure you’ll love his music !

Are you involved in the engineering process of your recordings, do you enjoy and care about sound recording or do you just like playing and singing ?
I think it’s really important to be involved in all aspects of producing a record. I mean, if you’re gonna put up the money and you even have your name on the cover, you have to take it serious. So many records that come out now sound like shit. And they all sound the same too. They have no dynamics. For some reason people think they can let technology do all the work, but if you don’t have a great sounding band you’ll never have a great sounding record. What’s very important too, is you need a good sound engineer. Just because you want to make record doesn’t mean you know how to engineer one. Even though you bought the newest mac computer with all the right plugins and software.

Why do you choose to record your last album in Sweden rather than Nashville or Memphis ?
The studio I used for both Mutineer and Tennessee Theft is only a 45 min drive from Copenhagen, so it was very convenient. Since everybody in my band are danish, it’s easier on the wallet to record closer to home. However I got both those records mastered in the states. Mutineer in California and Tennessee Theft in Memphis. I go to Memphis as much as I can. Memphis is a great town.

Is there a song you wish you had written ?
I don’t think like that, I just write songs. But I must say Pancho and Lefty by Townes Van Zandt is a really powerful song and I guess it was kind of his golden egg too. I wouldn’t mind have a golden egg myself.

Listening to your music, it’s really impossible to imagine that you’re Danish. Is it a reaction, a kind of rejection of your own culture or an immoderate love for american music ?
I don’t reject anything. But like most people in Europe I’ve been exposed to American culture all my life. Some people get into Rap Music, I got into Country, Blues, Rock N Roll and all the rest. And it’s not a new thing either. Look at the Beatles. They grew up listing to all that great stuff that came out of America at the time. Take some one like you own Johnny Halliday. Wouldn’t you say he’s very influenced by American Music?

What do you find & love in the US that you don’t find in Denmark ?
People here in Denmark especially, can’t seem to understand that a Dane or European for that matter, can write and sing in the style that I do, without it being a Bob Dylan rip of. People in America couldn’t care less. If the music is good they like it. That’s what I love about America.

What do you find and love in Denmark that you don’t find in the USA ?
I live in Copenhagen and it’s my home. Most people like their home. So do I.

As an european singing traditional american music, is it difficult to exist as an artist in the USA, is there prejudice against you ?
All I can tell you is, I’ve never had that in the US. Never. Being prejudice towards something is a European thing, not American.

What are your relations with music business ?
I don’t really have any relations with the music business. I make my own records and I’m not affiliated with any label. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to. I would. But I just haven’t met the right people to work with yet. As far as money and music goes, it’s easily managed when the only one you have to look after is yourself.

http://www.myspace.com/emilfriis

http://www.emilfriis.com

Set List

• « Jim Cain »
• « Rococo Zephyr »
• « Too Many Birds »

see also: previous post about Bill Callahan

http://www.myspace.com/jackpenate

Honey Dove :

http://truthandsoulrecords.com/lee-fields

http://www.myspace.com/leefields

http://jimjonesrevue.com

http://www.myspace.com/thejimjonesrevue

http://www.myspace.com/redfrench